When I was a kid, I used to help my mother clear leaves the old-fashioned way — with a rake. These days, I don’t see many rakes in my neighborhood. It seems everyone has a leaf blower or a landscaper ...

When I was a kid, I used to help my mother clear leaves the old-fashioned way — with a rake. These days, I don’t see many rakes in my neighborhood. It seems everyone has a leaf blower or a landscaper ...

The sounds of autumn are familiar: leaves crunching underfoot, a crisp breeze rustling through trees — and, much to the annoyance of many, the incessant droning of leaf blowers. But blasting fallen ...